Bed cover of roller printed silk, designed by C.F.A. Voysey, printed by G.P. & J. Baker Ltd. at their Swaisland Print Works, London, ca. 1893

Bed cover of roller printed silk. Repeating design on fine art-silk showing long-necked yellow birds perched on stems with large flowerheads. The birds peer to the left and right through scrolling acanthus leaves and the pattern is coloured in brown, green, cream, yellow and pink on a white ground. The bed cover has a specially-designed border and corners showing birds and foliage coloured as the centre. A blue stripe divides the border from the field. The silk was seamed down the centre before printing and is hemmed top and bottom. There are selvedges on either side of the cover.

Purchased. Registered File number 1985/798. When bought the cover was one of a pair for sale. A block impression for the border can be seen in Baker's first block-book still owned by the Company.

The design for this cover is by C.F.A. Voysey and was printed by G.P & J Baker at their Swaisland Print Works. The Museums owns the original watercolour design for the textile (E.59-1961) and a sample of block-printed linen of the same pattern (T.62-1953). Both were exhibited in From East to West: Textiles by G P & J Baker, an exhibition at the V&A, May-October 1984 (Cat. 96 & 97). The design is illustrated in the catalogue From East to West, p.57.

Fine art-silk bed covers of this type were very popular in the last years of the nineteenth century and were sold through fashionable London shops including Liberty's, Heals and Story's. For two other examples in the Museum collection see T.5-1986 and T.5-1987. Details of these covers can be found in Textiles of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1987. The linen was printed as a 'Liberty Art Fabric' so one must assume that the cover was also printed for and bought from the shop.

Charles Voysey was one of the most original and influential architects and designers of all forms of decorative art working at the end of the 19th century. In 1882 he set up his own architecture practice and from the late 1880s started to design repeating patterns for wallpaper, woven and printed textiles and carpets.

Voysey's most interesting designs date from this time and show the influence of William Morris's principles of pattern design and use of plant forms and animals as standard motifs. Voysey's textiles are dominated by flowing patterns incorporating birds, deer, hearts, flowers and trees in silhouette. He sold his work to manufacturers such as G. P. & J. Baker, Thomas Wardle and Alexander Morton, and many of his designs were sold through Liberty in London. Voysey's work was well known in continental Europe, and though popular with French Art Nouveau designers, his influence was felt more dramatically by the founders of the Modern movement.

T.157-1985